The present exemplary embodiment relates to a material testing apparatus and method capable of applying loads to a test specimen. More particularly, the present exemplary embodiment relates to a testing apparatus and method that utilizes a magnetic force to rotate a test specimen while a load is applied to the specimen. However, it is to be appreciated that the present exemplary embodiment is also amenable to other like applications.
The present material testing apparatus and method relates to the testing of elastomeric materials. Elastomeric materials may be tested for various properties. Examples of some of the properties of interest of these materials include tensile strength, hardness, compression, rebound, shear, elongation, hysteresis, etc. Unfortunately, in most cases, the evaluation of a specimen's characteristics of a particular property must be completed in isolation from other forces. This limits the usefulness of such product testing to approximate real field data for the reason that in most field applications of an elastomeric product it is difficult, if not impossible, to limit the forces being applied to an object to just one force which is applied in only one direction.
Therefore, it would be advantageous for a testing apparatus to be able to apply a predetermined amount of forces on a test specimen from selected directions at the same time or at relative proximity in time to simulate the field environment which the specimen would experience.